“What do you mean?” I asked.
“Our house is empty. All of our shit is gone.”
“It’s not gone. It’s here.”
“I figured as much. That’s why I broke in here.” She made an apologetic face. “You’re going to need a new window in your pool room. Your alarm isn’t working either.”
“You’re lucky I forgot to turn on the alarm when we left for the ER,” I said, lifting my hand. “Otherwise, you’d be in the back of a police car right now.”
As if she hadn’t even noticed my hurt hand, her eyes widened. “What happened to you?”
“I burned myself.”
“With those stupid wood burning tools? I told you those things are dangerous! I warned you that those cords were going to get tangled up and that you were going to knock something over and hurt yourself.”
I rolled my eyes. “It was an accident.”
“Why did you break into the house?” Alexei interrupted our sisterly spat. “What did you hope to find here?”
“There was a box in my bedroom. The little jewelry box with the ballerina,” Shannon clarified. “It has something in it that I need.”
“I saw it when the delivery came,” Stas said and pushed off the wall he had been leaning against. “I dropped a box and it fell out. I’ll go get it.”
“What is it?” Alexei asked. “And don’t lie to me, Shannon. The man I’m going to call is not someone who tolerates lies.”
Shannon swallowed anxiously. “Earlier this year, Ruben and I started thinking about getting out of the life. We were tired of it. He was sick of the drugs and the guns and the gambling. He felt like Lalo was never going to let him have his own crew or grow his territory.” She rubbed her face between her grubby hands. “One of his friends from high school—Edgar—came to him with this scheme. He’d been running it small time by himself, but he needed money to get it off the ground and he needed access to computers and businesses.”
“Like mine,” Alexei interrupted with irritation.
Shannon nodded reluctantly. “Like yours. We came up with a plan, and we started small with companies that had little or no security. I would plug in a flash drive, hit a few keys and then let the program run while I cleaned. I would grab them when I was done, hide them in my smock and go to the next job.” She gave a little shrug. “It was easier than we thought it would be.”
“But what was the plan?” Alexei touched his injured arm. “Who was going to buy this information you were stealing?”
“Edgar put a listing on some deep web site. There were a few offers, and he accepted one. We were getting ready to package it and sell it. Edgar was going to Belize. Ruben and I were planning to run away to some place like Thailand.”
“Were you going to tell me before you left?” It was impossible to keep the hurt out of my voice.
Shannon met my gaze. Quietly, she said, “No.”
“No? You were just…what? Going to leave and hope I didn’t notice? You were going to leave me here to clean up your mess?”
“I was going to tell you when we were some place safe,” she insisted. “I wasn’t worried about you. I knew that you’d land on your feet like you always do.” She glanced at Alexei. “I knew that he would come running the second I was gone. He’s been watching you for months. You were blind to it, but I wasn’t. I knew that the moment I was out of the picture, you were finally going to get your chance at happily ever after.”
While I was trying to process all of that, Stas returned with the jewelry box. He handed it to Shannon who opened it and produced a handful of flash drives. “These are the originals. I kept them. All of them. It was the way Ruben and Edgar decided to keep things fair. Edgar couldn’t sell the information behind our backs, and we couldn’t sell it behind his. I don’t have the decryption key that Edgar kept, but I have everything else.”
“Who was your buyer?” Alexei asked.
“I don’t know. It was anonymous.”
“Maybe not so anonymous,” he grumbled. Picking up the burner phone, he turned it on and waited for it to find service. He dialed a number and left a cryptic message with an answering service along with the number for the burner he held. Putting the phone down, he sighed. “And now we wait.”
“For?”
“For me to make a deal with the devil.” Alexei held my hand a little tighter. “It’s going to be a long night. You should get your sister cleaned up. If she’s hungry, feed her.” He kissed my fingertips. “You need to take your medicine, too.”
I had a feeling Alexei wanted us out of the office so he could make other phone calls. There were things I didn’t need or want to know. I did as he asked and took Shannon upstairs to shower. We didn’t say a word, not even when I handed her some of my clothing. She got dressed quickly and swirled her hair into a loose bun.
“Shannon?” I didn’t want to tell her, but she needed to know what Eric had told me earlier.
“Yeah?”
“Shannon…it’s about Ruben.”
“I already know.” She didn’t look away from the mirror. Her voice was calm and detached. “I knew as soon as he didn’t come back to the motel for me.”
“I’m so sorry, Shannon.”
Silent and serious, she turned away from the mirror and walked toward me. She put both hands on my shoulders and gazed down at me. “Shay, I never meant for any of this to happen. I need you to know that.”
“I do know that.”
“I love you, and I’m sorry that I screwed everything up for us.”
“I love you, and we’re going to be okay. You made some mistakes. You’ve paid for them. You don’t have to keep apologizing to me.” Shannon had lost everything trying to run this scheme—her man, her freedom and nearly her life. There was no reason for me to try to punish her further. She would be doing that to herself for the rest of her life.
After grabbing a hoodie for her and a jacket for me, I took her downstairs and let her make a sandwich. Feeling fatigued, I fixed a cup of coffee and took the medicine Stas had picked up for me. I was halfway through my coffee when Alexei walked into the kitchen with the clean shirt draped over his good arm.
“We need to go,” he announced. “Zec can’t keep his plane waiting very long.”
Leaving my cup of coffee on the table, I crossed the kitchen and helped him out of his ruined shirt and into the clean one. He handled the buttons himself because the fingers on my right hand were still too painful to move. I didn’t like it when Stas produced a shoulder holster for Alexei to wear, but I accepted that it was a necessity.
I picked up Alexei’s suit jacket from the back of the chair where I had left it earlier and helped him slide his arms through it. Behind me, Shannon finished her quick meal and put on the hoodie I had given her. Stas handed me the jacket I had brought down for myself.
Ten minutes later, we were driving to a private airport I hadn’t even known existed. I sat in the middle row of the SUV next to Shannon and held her hand as we made a drive that was going to forever change our lives. Alexei remained tight-lipped so I had no idea what was going to happen to Shannon once we reached the airport. Who was taking her? Would they treat her well? Was she going somewhere even more dangerous?
When we arrived at the airport, Alexei’s burner phone rang. He gave Stas directions in Russian. The SUV pulled into an open hangar. Boychenko followed close behind in his car. The doors closed behind our vehicles. I could see two men standing near a private jet. One of them I recognized as Besian. The other was a stranger to me.
Alexei turned in his seat. “Shay, stay here. I’ll come get you when it’s time to say goodbye. You,” he pointed at Shannon, “get out of the car and come with me.”
Shannon nodded and gave my hand a squeeze. My heart hammered in my chest as I watched my sister climb out of the SUV and follow Alexei. Stas trailed them with a duffel bag stuffed with cash and the jewelry.
Face taut with fear, Shannon glanced back at the SUV. In that moment, our entire life t
ogether flashed before my eyes. For better or worse and despite all her mistakes, she was my sister, and I loved her. Tears burned my eyes as I began to accept that I might never see her again.
To save her life and mine, she had to make a choice. She could disappear—or die.
Chapter Twenty-Five
“Keep your mouth shut,” Alexei warned as he came around the SUV to escort Shannon. His arm throbbed incessantly, and it left him feeling irritated and short-tempered. “Don’t say a word unless you’re specifically asked something.”
Shannon’s face contorted with distaste. “Are you always this controlling and rude with my sister?”
He scowled at the woman who would one day be his sister-in-law. “I love Shay, and I’ll do anything for her—but you have pushed me right to the fucking edge tonight, Shannon. You need to remember that I’m the only thing standing between you and a bullet.”
“I’m sorry,” she said quickly. “I really didn’t mean to shoot you. I was mad and my hands are shaky. I haven’t been eating, and I was using a little bump here and there to stay awake. It was an accident. I mean it.”
He didn’t doubt that it had been an accident, but he wasn’t about to cut her any slack. “You could have killed me or Shay tonight. We’re family, Shannon, but that doesn’t mean I have to like you.”
“Since when are we family? And that goes both ways. I don’t have to like you either.”
“I’m going to marry your sister. That makes you my family.”
“Does she know that?”
Alexei glanced at the SUV where she waited. “She will soon.”
“You better treat her right, Alexei.”
“Does she look unhappy to you? She’s living in a beautiful home. She has her pick of a fleet of luxury vehicles. She doesn’t have to worry about money anymore and can focus on her handbags.”
“That’s not what I meant,” Shannon argued. “I mean that you better love her right. She’s soft inside and good. She needs someone who appreciates that. She needs a man who will make her feel special. She needs a man who can be her rock.”
“I do love her. She means more to me than you can ever imagine or understand.” Alexei couldn’t believe he was talking about his relationship with Shay with her sister. This night was getting crazier and weirder by the minute. “I’ll make sure that Shay never wants for anything.”
“All she’s ever wanted is to be part of a family.”
“I’ll build a family with her,” he promised.
“Are we going to make this deal or what?” Zec called out in Albanian. “Some of us have schedules we’re trying to keep.”
“Remember what I said,” Alexei warned. “These men are a different breed, especially Zec. He’s the most dangerous man you’ll ever meet.”
Shannon nodded to assure him she understood. He led her across the hangar to where the two Albanians waited. Besian she was probably familiar with because of Ruben’s involvement in the underworld, but he noticed the way she stiffened at the sight of Zec. He didn’t blame her for that reaction. Even after all these years of doing business with the smuggler, Alexei still felt uneasy around him.
Wealthy and powerful, Zec had built a legitimate import and export business based out of the Balkans. He used it to hide his illicit activities. There were few things he wouldn’t smuggle from country to another. As far as Alexei knew, Zec drew his only line at human trafficking. Everything else was fair game.
Intensely private and secretive, he was a difficult man to pin down, and other than Besian, Alexei didn’t know if he had any true friends. The scar across his throat from the razor that had slashed him open served as a reminder that this was a man who had cheated death and feared nothing. In the past, he had done some huge deals with Zec. He liked to think they had a good working relationship, but he never took it for granted. Zec was the kind of man who would think nothing of cutting his throat over a perceived slight.
“Let’s see it,” Zec rasped in that destroyed voice of his.
Shannon held out the small jewelry box filled with flash drives. Nervously, she admitted, “I don’t have the decryption key. Edgar was the only one who had it, and he’s dead.”
“That’s what happens to people who try to double cross me.” Zec showed little emotion as he admitted to having ordered the hacker’s death.
“You were the buyer all along.” Alexei had suspected as much, especially after Besian was so helpful. Pinning Besian in place with a look, he said, “And that’s why you were so happy to run interference for Shay.”
Besian smiled and shrugged carelessly. “It’s easier to ask Nikolai for forgiveness than permission. He’ll be angry tomorrow when he realizes that we caused this mess. He might even thank me for helping solve the Lalo Contreras problem without any of us having to lift a finger. He’ll get over it when he gets his cut. He’s going to be a father soon. That son of his needs a college fund.”
“Speaking of sons,” Alexei said, “I want to talk to you about Zel’s debt.”
“There’s nothing to talk about,” Besian replied. “He fights on Saturday night. If he wins, the debt is settled. If he loses, he still owes me.”
“Send me that bill.”
“You’re the second person to ask me that today.”
Alexei assumed Ivan was the other one. “Zel’s had enough, Besian.”
“As touching as your concern is,” Zec interrupted, “I don’t have time to stand here and listen to you two negotiate an old debt. I’m here to finish my deal.”
He stared at Shannon, and she shrank back as if struck. “I’m not paying you a single penny for those. You and your boyfriend and that scam artist hacker tried to fuck me with this deal. First, you agreed to sell this information exclusively to me. Second, you tried to sell another copy to Lalo. Third, you found out that you had something Mueller wanted and gave him the chance to buy the information back.”
Alexei struggled with the shock that tore at him as Zec described Shannon’s brazen double and triple dealing. Was she stupid or just that greedy?
Zec’s lip curled as he slashed his hand through the air. “This should have been a clean transaction. No blood. No deaths. You three set the city on fire with your greed and your lies, and you’ve forced my man here,” he gestured to Besian, “and this man,” he gestured to Alexei, “and all the other bosses to put out the flames. So you don’t get shit.”
“That’s not fair!” Shannon snapped. “I worked hard to get these!”
“Fair?” Zec laughed right in her face. “Do you know what fair is where we come from? Fair is killing you and your sister and your sister’s friend and Alexei for your betrayal. So—I’ll give you a choice. I can treat you fairly.” He pulled aside his jacket to reveal two holstered weapons. “Or I can teach you a hard lesson about liars and thieves.”
Shannon gulped and licked her lips. “I’ll take the hard lesson.”
“Good choice.” Zec let his jacket fall closed. Glancing at Alexei, he said, “You know the terms.”
Relieved that Shannon hadn’t stupidly called his bluff, Alexei nodded. “It’s all in the bag.”
“It will be three to five days before she’ll contact you. You know the rules about phone and internet use.” Zec paused. “Do you have any location requests?”
“It needs to be some place that Shay can visit easily.” He remembered what Shannon had said in his office about running away with Ruben to Thailand. That dream had died with her lover, but that didn’t mean he couldn’t still give her some part of it. “Some place warm,” he added. “With beaches and low living costs.”
Shannon glanced at him in surprise. He wasn’t an ogre. Yes, she’d shot him and put Shay in danger again and again, but he wasn’t going to punish her for the rest of her life by asking Zec to drop her in some shithole.
“Beaches and low cost of living?” Zec repeated. “I can make that happen.”
Alexei signaled Stas to hand over the duffel bag. “Get Shay.”
 
; After giving one of Zec’s men the bag, Stas lumbered away, and Alexei turned to Shannon. He reached into his jacket and produced four thick envelopes of cash. “These are for you. It’s all you’re going to get for a while so make it count.”
Seemingly surprised by his generosity, Shannon accepted the money from him. “Thank you, Alexei. For everything,” she added sincerely. “I know you didn’t have to help me, but you did and I’m grateful for that.”
“Be careful, Shannon. Be smart. This has to be the last time you get in trouble like this. I won’t allow Shay to be put in danger again.”
“I understand,” she promised. Then, sheepishly, she added, “I’m really sorry about your arm.”
Besian frowned. “What happened to your arm?”
Unhappily, he grumbled, “She shot me.”
Besian’s eyes widened fractionally. “When? Tonight?”
“Yes.” Alexei motioned toward his injured arm.
Besian chuckled darkly. “Hell, you and Ivan really know to pick sisters, huh?”
Alexei grunted in agreement, all the while thinking of Ivan’s advice about the dangers of dating sisters. He’d have to remember to buy Ivan a beer the next time they were out and ask him for advice. He hoped that Shannon would learn from this experience and go straight, but he was a realistic man. He had to prepare for either outcome.
Shay approached their small group. When Besian spotted her bandaged hand, he asked, “Did your sister shoot you, too?”
Shay frowned at him. “No, I burned myself.”
Besian glanced at Alexei. “All this time and all those women and you still haven’t found one who can cook?”
Shay rolled her eyes. “I burned myself on a pyrography pen. I’m fully capable of cooking a meal without setting a kitchen on fire.”
“You’ll have to prove that by cooking dinner for me,” Besian teased.
“Fat chance,” Shay shot back rudely.
Alexei watched Besian to see how he would respond to Shay. The loan shark surprised him by offering an olive branch.
“And would my chances improve if I arranged a sit-down with your friend and made things right for her?”